It was only a matter of time..
Economists have been forecasting a major correction in the US economy for years. The historic deficit the Bush administration has stupidly built up is finally coming back to roost, and it'll sting big time. Really no big surprise there..
As for the state of the aviation industry in the rest of the world, I would think the effects would not be major; firstly there are lots of pilots close to retirement age, so they'll basically just drop out of the market.
The biggest driver for global pilot demand is solid economic growth in the Middle East, India, China, the rest of Asia and Australia. That growth is to a large degree independent of goings-on in the US, and is not set to slow in years to come. Literally hundreds of millions Chinese and Indians progressing into a new middle class, wanting to travel for leisure and needing to travel for business, will keep the flight switches ticking over nicely. The underlying need for raw materials will keep especially the Australian economy going for decades to come.
This may be a good time to think about migrating (back) Down Under for the young US-based pilots caught in the post-Bush spiral, it'll need to get a lot worse before it can get better over there..